Previews

Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes

Control-wise, the game is fairly simple to get used to once you realize that moving your troops directly, as in an action game, is absolutely the wrong tactic to take (the game doesn't do much to actually explain this, or anything else, unfortunately.) A waypoint system in the mini-map on the top right of the screen is easily opened, allowing you to direct your troops on the fly, and quickly switch between groups. It aims for elegant simplicity but seems slightly janky in our preview build; troops often exhibited pathfinding problems on the ground, walking the opposite way as directed. Both of these are surmountable problems, however, even if they don't get ironed out ... but the preview build does have numerous little nagging issues like this that the developers would do well to address. The game just isn't exhibiting first-party polish just yet.

Of course, the Xbox Live modes are of high interest to gamers, whether or not they played the original game. While that had but a single online mode, the new version of KUF has several. The troop battle mode, in which you have a pool of experience points to assign to a raw leader and his/her troops returns, largely unchanged, from the original game. Hero battle mode, which allows for three vs. three battles, allows you pick one of the preset leaders and clash in a massive battle. The invasion mode pits three versus three computer-controlled players in a battle to protect a castle from the A.I. invasion force.

As it stands so far, Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes is a very interesting game that builds on its predecessor. The only real stumbling block is a real lack of polish shown in the playable build Microsoft offered for preview. If errors in the game's script, control snafus, and other problems can be solved by the time it releases to retail, then there is an excellent chance that KUF: Heroes will be one of the most uniquely compelling games for the Xbox. It has the fantasy battlefield thing going on in a way no other game does, and its blend of action and strategy is immediately appealing.